Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Monday Drugstore Deals

Here are yesterday's drugstore deals. At Rite Aid I got 12 D batteries and a bottle of Orajel for $17.xx after coupons. I will get $15.99 back in rebates, so it cost ~$2 for all those batteries! These are going in my emergency supply stash for our flashlight.


At Walgreens I got 2 Revlon blushes, 4 tubes of Desitin and 5 bottles of Robitussen. It cost me $22.xx out of pocket after coupons and I got back $9.79 in rebates and $23 in register rewards. So this one was a money-maker!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Monday Drugstore Deals

A little bit slow this week with my Monday drugstore info, but nevertheless, here it is.

There is a great P&G deal at Rite Aid this week. Buy $25 worth of P&G products and get a $10 Rite Aid gift card back by mail. There's also a $5 off a $25 purchase coupon good til the end of December when you sign up at Riteaid.com, so you're really paying $10 for $25 worth of stuff. And if you have coupons, it's even better!

I bought 20 boxes of Puffs (with lotion!) and 1 Febreze Noticeables kit. It cost me $0.79 + tax after coupons and rebates. I don't think I'll be needing any more tissue at my house for a good while!


Amazingly enough, I DID actually fit them all under the bathroom sink where I store tissue. Phew!

Friday, November 7, 2008

Stayfree at Smith's

Smith's is also having some good sales this week - not to be outshadowed by Albertsons'. Their Stayfree products were on sale for $2.50, with an additional $5 off at checkout when you buy 10 packs. I had 8 $2 off MFQs, so it ended up costing me $4 for 10 packs, or $0.40 each. That's a savings of $27.


Can a girl ever have too many feminine hygiene products? I think not.

(Chris, being the good husband that he is, never complains when I come home with more bags of it even though I already have a bathtub full. I think it's because the more I have on hand, the less likely it is that he'll ever have to go to the store and buy any -- because, ugh, how embarassing would that be?!)

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Hot Buys at Albertsons This Week

This is a great week at Albertsons. They're having a General Mills/Unilever promotion where you buy $30 worth of qualifying products and get $15 back at checkout (three $5 catalinas) to use on your next purchase. Pretty sweet deal!

I got up early yesterday and hit Albertsons before work on the first day of the sale. They were having some issue with the catalinas not printing but the associates at my store was SOOOOO helpful and we got it all worked out.

I bought 66 products in 6 transactions. I did them right in a row so I'd use the $15 catalinas from the first transaction on the second, etc. I ended up spending $21.79 out of pocket for 66 items, and I've still got $15 in catalinas left over. That's $0.33 per item even if you ignore the $15 I've got still to spend!

To top it all off, I saved $293.06 between store sales and coupons. Totally felt like a smart shopper yesterday. :)



P.S. Got my camera settings fixed. Hallelujah! How embarassing for me -- I'm supposed to be a techy!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Monday Finds

Here are the details of my Monday drugstore escapades.

At Rite Aid, I got 8 boxes of Kotex (free after eight $1 coupons), 2 packs of GUM toothbrushes (free after rebate), 2 packs of Tampico Flavor Pops (75% off clearance), and some candy corn (50% off clearance).

Total OOP, $2.47 after rebates (most of that is tax).


At Walgreens, I got 4 Boxes of Celestial Seasonings Herbal Tea (free after coupons), 2 Glade Wisp candles, 2 Herbal Essence shampoos, 6 Schick Quattro disposable razors, 4 Almay mascaras, 2 bags of 75% off candy corns (yes, one is already half-gone in this picture), and 2 packs of headbands as fillers. Oh, and a bag of shredded cheese, because I needed a filler.

Total OOP, $3.87 on a gift card, and $17.98 coming in rebates. Plus a free haircut for the Herbal Essence shampoo.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Glade for Groceries

I recently found out about a pretty neat Glade promotion at Albertsons. Buy one Glade Scented Oil Warmer (on sale for $4.48) and get a $4 catalina at checkout. Apparently it's been going on for a while because I went to 4 Albies before I found a store with any in-stock! But when I did I used all my coupons up (some try-me-free's, a few bogo's and a few $3 offs) and ordered more on ebay (promotion ends 11/2 I think).

Behold:


I bought 8 Glade warmers that cost me ~$6.xx out of pocket and got back $32 in catalinas good on my next grocery purchase. I'm going to use them to stock my freezer with meat for the winter!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Once A Month Cooking - Potatoes

I got the idea for this HERE, at a woman's blog who occasionally does once-a-month cooking. She did potato skins, twice-baked potatoes, and mashed potatoes. I chose just to do the mashed and the skins.

Five-pound bags of potatoes were on sale for $0.99 last week at Smiths, so I picked up 2 bags. I had shredded cheese in my freezer from a sale last spring (where I got it nearly free), as well as some bacon in my freezer that I got for $0.29 per package in June with a great coupon. Then I also picked up one bunch of green onions ($0.89 at Reams). Total cost for this project is less than $4! If a serving is 2 potato skins, it comes out to about $0.12 per serving.


First I scrubbed the potatoes and poked them with a fork. Then I cooked them for 1 hour at 450 degrees in the convection oven.


After they cooled I cut them in half and scooped out the insides to make mashed potatoes. I mixed the insides with some butter, milk, and salt and pepper.


Then I scooped them into muffin tins and put them in the freezer for an hour to create individual servings.


While those froze, I filled the potato skins with cheese, chopped green onion and bacon pieces (not fully cooked so that when they get cooked later the bacon won't be too crispy).


Voila! I now have a freezer full of potato skins and mashed potatoes to use for lunches or dinners throughout the whole month! Not bad for less than $4 dollars!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Ebates

I thought I'd tell you about one of my favorite websites called Ebates. I do a lot of online shopping since I work all day and don't always have time to go to the store. The cool thing about Ebates is that you get cash back on your online purchases just by clicking through their site! They've got pretty much every site you could possibly want to buy from -- Nordstrom, Old Navy, Banana Republic, Target, Walmart, Best Buy, Circuit City, Dell Sephora, Expedia, Netflix, Home Depot, Pottery Barn, Red Envelope, Shutterfly, etc, etc, etc. The list goes on and on. The amount of cashback varies from 1% up to 15% for each store, and sometimes there are additional coupons listed on their site to help save you money.

Here's how it works:
1. Join Ebates by clicking HERE
2. Then simply browse their listing of stores and click on the store link to shop and make your purchase
3. Wait for the cashback to appear in your account
4. Every 3 months they send you a check with all your cashback

You also get a $5 bonus when you make your first purchase after signing up. Pretty simple, and a great way to save some cash on things you were going to buy online anyway!

So the next time you go to buy something online, remember to click through Ebates to save some money!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Hidden Treasures at Kmart

I stopped by Kmart yesterday on my way home to buy some of their Max Factor makeup which is buy-one-get-one this week. I had buy-one-get-one coupons, which made it free -- yay! I don't usually wear Max Factor stuff, but I got a free lipfinity a while back that I liked. It comes with a color and then a clear moisturizing topcoat. I could take or leave the color but the moisturizing topcoat is seriously the bomb. Makes your lips super shiny and luscious. So I bought 2 and I'm gonna keep the topcoat and toss the color!

In my browsings, I happened upon some sweet clearance finds, namely some super-cute Martha Stewart picture frames. They were originally $17, marked down to $3.50. Sa-weet!


I also found some 4-inch pillar candles on clearance down to $2, which was perfect for my new rot-iron candlestick set I bought for my hearth. I also found some Robitussen on clearance for $2.50, which Kmart paid me to take after I used my $3 coupons on them.

All-in-all, some good treasure hunting at Kmart!

Monday Walgreens Escapade

Here are my Walgreens finds for yesterday. I always go on Mondays because the good deals sell out quickly. I even ran into Emily (aka, supermom) with Keidra and Ryder yesterday morning, which was so much fun. Much more fun than shopping by yourself! :)

I got everything pictured below for $17.80 out of pocket (I used last week's register rewards to pay for some of it), plus I got back $70 in register rewards. (This is what I like to call "rolling" your register rewards.) It was a good day!

Cold & Flu Season Supplies

I forgot to post my deals from last week.

All these items were free after rebate last week at Rite Aid. There were actually 30 items free after rebate -- all cold and flu medicines -- but I just bought the ones I thought I'd use or like to try.



I accidentally did something funny to the settings on my camera, and now they're all turning out grainy. ??? Standby while I work through the technical difficulties.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Toothpaste out the Wazoo

Here are the details of my Monday Walgreens runs! After hitting up 4 stores on my way to/from work, I came home with 23 toothpastes, 3 Glade Wisp candles, 2 Glade scented oil candles, 5 Glade scented gel warmers, 1 Loreal moist towelette, and 6 Visines.


I spent $9.71 + tax out of pocket, got $9 in register rewards back, plus I have $14.99 in rebates coming at the end of the month.

All total I saved $130.38 in coupons and store sales.

Friday, October 3, 2008

Organizing Your Coupons

People often ask me how I organize my coupons, so I thought I'd share. I use an file box (purchased for $12 at Staples) with a catergorical system, as shown below. The categories are broad, including Health/Beauty, Paper Goods, Medicine, Cleaning Supplies, Refrigerated Foods, Frozen Foods, etc.


However, there's always more than one way to skin a cat. It's best to find a method that makes sense and works for you. Here are some ways other ladies organize their coupons.

Method 1: Box with envelopes

Method 2: Alphabetical accordian file

Method 3: File binder

Method 4: Accordian file according to store location

Method 5: Binder by Category


One of these ladies mentions that writing your name and phone number somewhere discreet on your binder is a great idea, in case you leave it somewhere. It would be a shame to lose all of your hard work!


Also, I came across this great article on how one woman uses cash and an envelope system to stay on budget every month. I personally love the credit card rewards, and don't usually have trouble spending more than I take in. But it was an interesting read and I liked her receipt organization method. I could do better at that.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Blue Light Special on Aisle 3

Kmart is having a coupon-doubling extravaganza this week -- at least in some parts of the country. But any Kmart store should honor the promotion for any customer that requests it (I've got an email from Kmart corporate saying this).

I took the email to my local Kmart last night and got all of my coupons up to a $2.00 value doubled at checkout. It was awesome!

Total before coupons -- $302


Total after coupons -- $17 + tax

You might be wondering what I'm planning on doing with 24 bottles of Pert Plus. Chris was wondering this also. The answer is that I can always find people who will use it - whether it be neighbors, family, friends or the local YWCA. Tax write-off's are a beautiful thing!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Costco or Sam's Club?

I came across an interesting comparison on a message board the other day. A woman was debating whether to get a membership to Costco or Sam's Club so she went to both and compared prices on a random sampling of items that she uses. Below is what she found, with the "winner" indicating the store with the lowest price on each item:

Product Size Price Winner
Mayo, 1 gallon $6.36 - Sam's
Choc. Chips, 72 oz. $8.38
- Sam's
Onions (yellow), 10lb $3.90 - Sam's
Onions (white), 5lb $3.24 - Sam's
Huggies Diapers, 176 ct. $34.66(.22 ea) - Sam's
Dishwasher Soap, 2-125oz $7.85 - Costco
Fresh Strawberries, 4lb $5.99 - Costco
Sour Cream, 3lb $2.79 - Costco
Chicken Broth, 12pk (14oz) $7.84 - Sam's
Silverware(plastic), 390ct. mix $9.52 - Sam's
Peanut Butter, 2pk-48oz $7.28 - Sam's
Olive Oil, 5lt. $25.79 - Costco
Hamburger, 1 lb (10%lean) $2.25 - Sam's
Frozen Chicken Breasts, 6lb $12.88 ($2.14/lb) - Sam's
Tilapia, 3lb $11.88 - Sam's
Salmon, 3lb $15.56 - Sam's
Frozen Mixed Berries, 3lb $7.32 - Sam's
Frozen.Strawberries, 6lb $8.16 - Sam's
Frozen. Blueberries, 3lb $8.79 - Sam's
Frozen OJ, 6-16oz. $8.69 - TIE
Blocked Mozzarella Cheese, 5lb $11.78 ($2.36/lb)
- Sam's
Block Cheddar, 5lb $11.89 ($2.38/lb) - Costco
String Cheese, 48oz. $8.28
- Sam's

The clear winner here is Sam's Club by a mile. Shocking. I guess I'll keep my Sam's card.

Soup Galore

I'm not doing a very good job of posting things other than shopping deals. But some of them are so good I can't help myself! Take this one, for example. All the food you see here for only $9.66.



According to the receipt, I saved a total of $47.68 on this shopping trip. Who pays $55+ for that much soup? Not me!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Target Groceries

Last night I took my friends Sadie and April with me to Target to show them how I get good deals on groceries there. We had a great time laughing and chatting while we shopped. They both got some great hauls (April had 40% savings). Here's what I got:



Four Joint Juices, a TGIF Skillet Meal, 2 lunchables (Chris loves these for some reason!), butter, Glade Fabric & Air refresher, 3 Johnson & Johnson Buddies Bars, a 2.5 lb Chuck Roast and some pre-marinated chicken breasts.

Total before coupons - $38.xx
Total after coupons - $16.50

Friday, September 12, 2008

Creamy White Bean and Apple Chili

So ever since Chris went back to school for the semester, I've made a resolution to be better about having dinner ready for him (when he gets home at 10:30 PM) and having something for him to eat for lunch the next day.

I know what you're thinking...these are duties that every wife should be doing already, right? This is true, and sadly I have been slacking. It's hard to work an 8-hour day and then come home exhausted and STILL have to make dinner -- but that's no excuse.

So last night I made crockpot Creamy White Bean and Apple Chili and it was really yummy! I found the recipe on a woman's blog who made the New Year's Resolution of cooking something in the crockpot every day in 2008. Yes, that means she has over 200 crockpot recipes on her blog, complete with before and after pictures, ingredients, directions and results. Next on my list to try is this!


Electrasol

I promise all of my posts WON'T be about the deals I find!

But here's another one from yesterday. Three boxes of Electrasol dishwashing detergent for $0.25 + tax at Albertsons.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Granola Bars

Here's my daily find post. Yesterday I got 10 boxes of granola bars for $0.79.

They were 10/$10 at Albertsons and after my coupons the total was $5.75. Then I had a $5 catalina from last week's deal so the grand total was... (drum roll, please)... $0.75 + tax!


Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Lifetime supply of cleaner and cough syrup!

It was a good day yesterday deal-wise. (For those of you who don't know, I have a sick obsession with "deals" and even made a website about it -- www.slavetosave.synthasite.com.)

I got 28 bottles of various cleaners, 12 bottles of Robitussen (going to the YWCA next week) plus a few books of stamps and some candy bar fillers. It cost me about $20 out of pocket, plus I've now got $98 in register rewards (Walgreens cash) in my wallet to use on next week's deals!

Like I said, it was a good day yesterday.



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